Know About Other Birth Defects

Did you know that there are birth injuries and birth defects, but they are not the same thing? A lot of people confuse birth injury with the term birth defect, but they differ in one enormous way – most birth defects are entirely unavoidable. Birth injury is something that is the total opposite, and is often seen as a matter that should and could have been prevented but is somehow due to negligence or carelessness of some kind.

Additionally, most birth defects are thought of as starting almost as soon as the pregnancy begins or somehow related strictly to genetics. Sadly, there are some circumstances in which birth defects cross the line into birth injury because they are actually the result of someone’s carelessness or negligence and could have been preventable. This article is about those birth defects, or what we might call the other birth defects.

Examples of Other Birth Defects

Because birth injuries are so often seen as being due to something that goes wrong during the delivery (just before, during, and afterward), we might not see other birth defects in the same category. However, just consider the following examples of other birth defects:

A woman is given a prescription medication for a condition like extreme nausea or to manage the seizures caused by her life-long epilepsy. The baby is born with severe birth defects…is it due to genetics or did the drugs cause the birth defects? There are many lawsuits that a good attorney can reference to prove that many drugs lead to serious birth defects, and are in fact the cause of a birth injury.

A woman uses an over the counter spermicide in the first weeks or months of pregnancy because she is unaware that she might be pregnant. The baby is born with birth defects…was it the “teratogen” compound in the spermicide? It might be, and is something to pursue with a good lawyer.

Proving the Issue

You should know that a lot of parents with children born with birth defects, and who feel that it was an avoidable matter, are unaware of the fact that they have to prove their case. If they are to win compensation for a birth injury, they must be able to demonstrate that someone failed to provide the mother and her baby with appropriate information, advice, and care during the pregnancy or delivery.

When you are certain that your baby suffered other birth defects because of a pharmaceutical wrongly prescribed, because of exposure to a chemical agent known to cause birth defects, or because of a physician’s actions during the pregnancy, it is up to you to gather the evidence and prove the case. This is why the trained attorney is going to be your best ally and resource. They are going to look for the medical experts that can validate your claims, and will have to use your medical records to prove that the other birth defects relate directly to the source you have identified.

This sort of law is usually called a medical malpractice case or a personal injury case. This means your physician or medical care providers have somehow deviated from the “medical standard of care”. Did they overlook the fact that you were using epilepsy drugs when pregnant? Did the pharmaceutical company fail to provide the physician with adequate warnings of possible risks for birth defects?

There is so much to prove in such cases, but a thorough lawyer can often answer all of the questions long before heading to court. In fact, they may keep the matter out of court and find a way to settle for the damages that negligence or carelessness caused. Work with a good attorney and you may be able to obtain compensation for your child’s birth defects and subsequent medical needs.

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